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HER 
MINERALS 




TIMBER 
AGRICULTURE 
MORALS 
HEALTH 



JpC^Read and send to some one you -wish to 
do a favor. 

HOUSTON FAST & WEST TEXAS RAILWAY. 



itb ^ ^ ^ ^ 4li> ^ 



East Texas 



ALONG THE LINE OF THE 



I 



Houston East & West Texas Railroad, 



From HOUSTON, the principal, as well as the larg« ;- 

city in the great State of Texas, to SHREVE- 

PORT, the coroiK't of North Louisiana, 

^^ 'SAN 

"^^^^ ARCADIA^ Mittti^- 

For Capital, and the best pook man's country 
on earth. 

Timber, Iron and other Minerals for the 
capitalist. Agriculture and Horticulture for the 
poor man. 

THE DAIRYMAN. 

NURSERYMAN. 

FRUITMAN. 

STOCKMAN 

iMid tlie straight-out farmer get big returns for 
honest labor. 



tfl^hat East "TPexas is 

and how to verify the statements 
jit^de, is within. 



READ AND SEND TO A FRIEND. 



Houston, Texas, May 21, 1894 
OoL. Elbert S. Jemison, President, 

Houston East &>> West Texas Railway: 

Dear Sir : — Pursuant to your request, made to me 
in January last, I have carefully looked over the coun- 
try through which your railroad runs — and for some 
miles on either side, and I have the following plain 
fltatement of facts to present, in a brief, plain way : 

[The road, as you and all old Texans know, is the 
conception of Paul Bremond, a man with great knowl- 
edge of Texas, and a man with most wonderful con- 
ception, in fact prophetic. 

MINERALS. 

I have had no way of making other than a surface 
examination and observation of minerals. Cuts in 
the roadbed and in the public dirt highwarys, and from 
wells bored for water and lubricating oils, were the 
anly means in my reach. 

I have to report iron ore in the greatest abundance 
and of the very best hemitite, shotted, laminated, 
potleg and clayband steel ore, containing 45 to 59 per 
cent of metalic iron. This is found in Angelina, 
Nacogdoches, Rusk, Panola and Cherokee counties. 

There is gypsum, isinglass and lead in Angelina 
county, also building stone and clays for almost all 
purposes. Brown coal (or lignite) is found in large 
quantities in Nacogdoches, Cherokee and Shelby coun- 
ties. From San Jacinto county to Logansport in 
Shelby county is found vitrifying clay, and also fire 
tile and the very best character of potters' clay. 
There are also several beds, and with large quantities 
of kaolin, ochre, marl, shale, chalk and glass sand. 
The day^ along the line of the road is a matter of 
more than a passfng notice, for they are of great value, 
and capital will seek them sooner or later. The brick 
works at Garrison, in Nacogdoches county, has already 
demonstrated this fact; the glass sand has been tested 
and found of good quality. 



Iron ore is probably the largest in amount of the 
minerals along the route; yet the next in value, if not 
the first, is ''green sand'^ oil hearing and calcareous 
'^marls.^^ This, the best of fertilizers, is found in An- 
gelina, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Rusk and Panola i 
counties. I have tested these marls scientifically and! 
practically, and with very satisfactory^ success, for the! 
past four years. I will, therefore, give it more than 
a passing notice, as its manufacture into a commercial 
article of use will be an industry in less than a year. 
Scientists describe "green sand" (and I refer to our 
most excellent State Geologist, Prof. E. T. Dumble, as 
among them), as a mixture of sand glauconite, a 
mineral of green color, composed of silica, iron, potash, 
decomposed shell and variable parts of other sub- 
stances, and with phosphoretic acid. Numerous ana- 
lysis have been made by Prof. Dumble, State Geolo- 
gist, as also by Prof. Harrington of the Agricultural 
and Mechanical College at Bryan, Texas, as also Ger- 
man and other chemists, and all of them report as 
principal ingredients, lime, potash, phosphoric acid, 
iron and silica, just the elements that are needed in 
worn out and poor soils, or in the droughey lands. I 
tested marl practically on red clayjand that has been 
in cultivation since 1838. In 1889 I put on the land 
used for garden, fruits, flowers, etc., 350 pounds to an 
acre, and have put on the same land 200 pounds per 
year since, until the present year, when I found it as 
productive as is necessary. I sowed broadcast. The 
result is as follows : An increase in production of 40 
per cent, ten to fifteen days earlier maturity, 
holds moisture twenty to twenty-five days' 
longer than the natural soil, and has proven 
an insecticide. Ample tests besides my own 
have been made, and all agree that as a fertilizer, 
Texas green sand marl is entitled to the first rank. 
From all I can gather, it is a better article than the 
English, Jersey, Virginia and Maryland marls. 

Mr. Geo. H. Cook, a geologist of wide reputation, 
says of marl: "It gives a lasting fertility to the soil, 
and I have never seen a field that had once been 
marled that became poor, and instances a field that 
had been continuously cultivated for thirty years 
after being marled, and good crops made each year." 
A large and successful fruit grower in the Jersey flats 



f 



near Elizabeth, N. J., told me that he marled his 
orchard in 1874, and had, up to 1893, no occasion to 
renew the application, and that he had no disease or 
insects to annoy him to any great extent. 

I have tested it with the following crops, and found 
it superior to guano, phosphates, bone meal, barnyard 
or any of the commercial fertilizers, (cotton seed meal 
being the nearest approach, but five times a« costly), 
to-wit: apples, pears, peaches, plums, cabbage, beans, 
peas, potatoes, sugar cane, cotton, corn, alfalfa, to- 

:, bacco, all vegetables raised in this latitude; also 

'> grapes and berries. 

Again, I desire to say, this mineral lays in large 
beds along the line of your road, and a short time 
will give you a tonnage almost equal to your present 
lumber tonnage, and when used on the farms, will in- 
crease the tonnage from the fields 40 per cent, per an- 
num. 

[Note — I will give any inquirer minute particulars 
''in re" marl, or anything else that I am not clear up- 
on, when applied to personally or by letter, care of H. 
E. & W. T. Railway, Houston. Texas.] 

In so short a report as this is compelled to be, 1 am 
unable to go into details, and right here desire to say 
that the minerals along your road will enlist capital, 
and that in the near future. 

At Lufkin, Angelina County, is found a superior 
point for a bank, and any manufactory of wood into 
finished articles. Here is your road division, round 
house, etc., and the terminal of the Tyler & South- 
eastern Railroad, a part of the great Cotton Belt 
system. 

TIMBER. 

Now, I come to speak of the great forest of timber 
that your road permeates, the largest body of timber 
now standing in the United States. Upon an in- 
vestigation and examination, I find standing on and 
within twenty miles of your Yo?id, seventy billion feet 
..of long and short leaf pine timber alone (I have no way 
■:^o estimate the cypress), and nineteen different com- 
mercial hard woods along the line and in the same 
territory; but experts have estimated the amount to 



be over twenty-five billion feet, of which cypress, mag- 
nolia, oak, hickory, ash, gum, sycamore and walnut 
predominate. 

The timber, therefore, offers a rich field to capital 
and manufacturers of lumber, and the lumber into 
finished articles: wagons, furniture, staves, hoops, • 
barrels, tubs, buckets, handles, spokes and felloe. 
Manufactories could be operated with great profit. 

In both Arkansas and Missouri there are located 
factories in timber not so good, and in quantities not 
one-fourth as large as is found here, yet they work 
from 50 to 800 hands profitably. A description of 
this immense forest, as it should be, would require 
more space than is expected in this report, but upon 
inquiry, detailed information can be obtained. 

I do not desire to neglect to call your attention to 
some of the many curative mineral springs along the 
road. Two of these are at Garrison, Nacogdoches 
County, and near the line of Shelby and Rusk Coun- 
ties. One of them is pure chalebyate, and the other 
Red or Brown Springs, like those at Mount Pleasant, 
in this State, and which has made many wonderful 
restorations to health, as has also the Dodson Springs at 
Garrison, and from the fact and in the opinion of expert 
physicians, I have no hesitancy in saying that the pur- 
chasing and opening out of these springs as health 
resorts by men of experience in these lines will make 
them very popular resorts for those people with dis- 
eases beyond the usual medicines and remedies. A 
good sanitarium located here would prove a paying in- 
vestment. Near Timpson, in Shelby County, are springs 
of the same character, larger and bolder than those of 
Garrison, but not so accessible at this time. 

There are many mineral wells and springs along the 
roacj, many having obtained local notoriety and hawe 
merit. 

The minerals and mineral water, and especially the 
lubricating oil, deserve more attention than I have 
been able to give them for the purpose of this report, 
and during the summer I will endeavor to give these 
matters my undivided attention; but right here I wiU 
say that the lignite coal in Nacogdoches and in Shelby 
Counties has more bitumen and less silica than that 
heretofore tested as a fuel, and deserves more attention 
than it is receiving. 



5 

AGRICULTURE. 

I now come to the agricultural and horticultural ad- 
vantages and possibilities of this section. 

There is on and within twenty miles of your road 
and not under fence, 6J55^845 acres of land that is as 
' warm and as generous to the touch of the intelligent hus- 
bandman as a wild goose ever flew over. There is in 
;';this aresT less than half million acres under the plow, 
] and the character of the cultivation given it is prima- 
tive. and yet the yield is as great per acre as that of 
> any other section. Now and then you find a man both 
' intelligent and industrious. A cross fence in many 
instances shows brains and labor on one side, ignorance 
and a constitutionally climatic feeling on the other; 
the one has bank stock; the other is "Elijah fed by 
ravens'." 

Starting in at the depot at the wonderful city of 
Houston, destined to be the Chicago of the South, in 
three miles we get out of the city and strike the broad 
prairies and for ten miles travel them. This is to-day, 
and will always be, the dairy and vegetable field, with 
Houston as the market. In this area can be produced 
besides garden truck, the Leconte and Kieffer pear, the 
plum and the grape, and all the berries. Burks County 
is to Philadelphia just what this territory for fifty- 
■ five miles square will ever be to Houston. Going on 
; up the road the topography changes, and different 
crops, or additional crops are produced, and other 
fruits and stock is added to the farm. After passing 
the magnolia glades and alluvial soils of the San Ja- 
cinto and tributaries, we reach the hills of the Trinity 
River valley, and in beauty, health and fertility, God 
has been truly liberal. Crossing the Trinity, we are 
in Polk County, a magnificent body of rich land and 
immense fields of hard woods. The lands are cheap 
and the quality the best. 

In this county begins really the great fruit belt of 
the State. Orchards show for themselves, and the day 
is not far distant when land now offered at from $1.50 
^ to $5 per acre will be worth $10 to $35 per acre. 

I From the county town of Polk County, "Livingston,'^ 
i: seventy miles from Houston, to Logansport, one hun- 
dred and ninety-six miles, is found, besides the regular 



Southern crops, corn, •cotton, sugar, rice, alfalfa, to- 
bacco and v.egetables of all kinds; a magnificent stock 
country, and apples, peaches, prunes, pears, plums, 
home and foreign fruits of many kinds; all the vines 
and fruits, etc., are found in abundance, and nature 
agrees with them. One part of this vast territory of 
many thousand square miles seems to have no "real 
advantage over another, and none of it has a su- 
perior on this earth. The test for growing fruit has 
been longer in Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Rusk and 
Shelby than in the other counties, but as recent as the 
test has been made in the lower coast counties, enough 
is known to show conclusively that the fruit man has 
a well founded knowledge in its perfect fitness. 

The garden truck, in all this section, is found in the 
ground ten months out of the twelve; two crops of 
many products are had annually, and with great ease. 
Little or no fertilizers are used, though it would, how- 
ever, improve the land for many of the products. 

It is a fact that drouth is unknown in this section 
of the great State. Besides fruits and vine fruits, 
there are grown in this area over t^venty field crops, and 
successfully grown. I deem it unnecessary to make 
further mention of what they are. 

1 will, however, say that recent tests of rice and 
tobacco have been made in several of these counties, 
and that each has proven a success beyond the ex- 
pectation of everybody, both as to the quantity pro- 
duced and the quality. I will give only one instance 
of the many that are found of the product per acre in 
this territory. It will be all that is necessary to show 
what all can do if they desire. This, gentlemen, is 
what the gran-ger calls a book farmer. 

He had twelve acres in 5-year-old fruit trees, 
planted 20 by 18 feet — apples, pears, plums, peaches. 
When the fruit was well set he sold the crop on the 
trees to a St. Louis fruiter for thirty-three and one- 
third dollars per acre. Between the rows of trees he 
planted five rows of Spanish goobers. After the fruit 
man had gathered the early fruit, the owner turned in 
sixty-one pigs, of May litter, half-breed black Berk- 
shire, they fed from the' goobers and fallen fruit, 
and two bushels of artichokes planted in the fence 
corners; until the 15th day of January, when they 



were sold at 4| cents gross, and weighed, average, 
204^ pounds. In this way the land paid $50.95 per 
acre, and is now out in vegetables that will come off 
in time for another fall crop of goobers, artichokes 
and hogs. Instances of $70 yield is reported in 
tobacco and vegetables, fruit and other crops, with 
hogs and Jersey cows as accessories. 

Now, in the instance reported, had the man had 
pure bred, bald faced, black Irish Berkshire, instead 
of the cross, and had himself marketed his fruit, in- 
stead of selling to the middle man, he would have 
made $75.80 net, per acre, at the least. This same 
man had 88 acres in cotton and 30 acres in corn, his 
net yield from fruit and hogs on the 12 acres, was 
more than from his cotton, although a large yield. 
This is to show the value of the country for the poor 
man. 

I have given more attention to agriculture and 
horticulture than to minerals and forestry, because I 
am familiar with these practically, and my mineral 
knowledge is entirely of the scientific, except as to the 
practical use of marl and the ochre, which has had 
especial attention. And I do not hesitate to say that 
no man need fear failure in going into agriculture m 
all its lines, in any of this vast territory. If he has the 
■tidustry to live in any other section, he can make money 
.0 loan in this area. 

In anti-bellum days the idea prevailed in this sec- 
tion that the lands, except on the rivers and creeks, 
was valueless for agriculture. The free negro melted 
the idea as an August sun a snow bank. Many 
negroes fell back into the timbered hills, opened up 
patches, and in a short time sold the old planter fruit 
and many luxuries, and even the necessaries of life. 

I saw and talked with many men from the older 
Southern States who have recently moved into this 
section, of whom there are about 600 families, and 
not one of them dissatisfied j but, on the contrary, 
are delighted because they are prosperous and 
happy. Some ten years ago an exodus took place 
in this section and over two hundred families moved 
west, they have returned, or are trying to return, 
and declare they will never sin again. An incident 
occurred not long since, when waiting for a hot 
box to cool, that will show an old South Carolinian^s 



idea of the fertility o^ the soil. A man was clear 
ing some new ground near the roadway when 
some man from the prairies said: ''any man who would 
try to make a living farming on as poor land as this, 
is a fit subject for a writ "lunatico inquirendo." Said 
the old Carolinian, my friend, if they had soil like 
this in Carolina, Georgia, or Alabama, they would 
sack it and sell it to the Mississippi and Missouri people 
for fertilizing, and it would be good at that." The farmer 
told me that in the field adjoining his new clearing, 
that he raised and marketed seven, five hundred pound 
bags of strict middling cotton on nine acres. 

A move by any honest, industrious intelligent, farmer 
from any of the old Southern States to this section^ 
would be good for himself, and especially for a growing 
family of children. I know of no better, nor so good 
a country anywhere. 

I have given especial attention to the moral of the 
people of all the section, and I have found it above 
my expectation; and the court records disclose less 
crime per capita than in New England. Again, I 
have carefully looked into the educational facilities. 
You cannot find a person between fifteen and forty 
years old, raised here, who cannot read and write; but 
in this, churches, etc., East Texas has no advantage over 
any other part of Texas, as all have the same advan- 
tages; but this section has superior college advantages, 
Nacogdoches, Garrison, Lufkin, Rusk and Jacksonville 
having large institutes of learning (denominational 
management). The white population largely predom- 
inate, and the negro in this section makes a better cit- 
izen than is found in other parts of the South. I find 
among the citizenship men and women of all the sev- 
eral Christian denominations. It is a rare thing to be 
the guest of a citizen who does not hold a Christian 
family service and invoke the blessings of Deity on 
the food set before him. 

The use of liquor and snuff is rapidly giving way 
before the march of Christianity and intelligent educa- 
tion. Cities and villages keep liquor; but few of the 
farmers use it; the ignorant negro keeps the bar-rooms 
alive, incidentally aided by the political office seeking 
tramp. 

The water in streams, springs and wells in the larger 



9 

part of this territory is of the very best character, and 
in great abundance. The streams are full of tooth- 
some fish, black bass, trout and white perch predomi- 
nating. Deer and other wild game are abundant. 
For a more extended notice apply to the Honorable 
Jno. E. HolUnsworth, Commissioner of Agriculture, 
or Prof. E. T. Dunible, State Geologist, Austin.^ 

The sawmill men along the road offer big induce- 
ments in lands; the merchants are liberal and will aid 
immigrants in furnishing them supplies; land owners^ 
will sell atjair prices^ and on long terms, at low rate of 
interest. 

Attached hereto, and made a part of this report, is 
statistical matter and a]so matter designed to answer 
any and all questions that can be asked by any one 
about the section. 

I am, dear sir with high regard, and wishing you 
continued success, 

Yours very truly, 

Jno. M.^Claibornr^ 



EAST TEXAS. 



AN ARCADIA — HOW TO SEE IT. 



Go to the Houston, East and West Texas R. R. de- 
pot at Shreveport, La., or Houston, Texas, if you want 
to do so, you can cross over from the International from 
Conroe, in Montgomery County, to Cleveland, on the 
H. E. & W. T. R. R.; or from Trinity Station in Trinity 
county, to Corrigan, in Polk county, on the H., E. & W. 
T. R. R., and take either end, and you may see the best 
fruit and vegetable country in the State of Texas. 

The first thing a man wants to know lohen starting out 
to see this Arcadia is, what he wants to find and what 
h.p. wants to do. 

Do you want to raise vegetables, pears, strawberries, 
rice, ribbon cane, alfalfa or run a dairy? Then at any 
point on the road up to the town of Shepherd, in San Ja- 



10 

cinto, from Houston, or in ten miles of it on either 
side, you can find land, climate and seasons made for 
the purpose. 

Bight here I desire to say that one of the best occu- 
pations a man can engage in along this road and in 
this section, beginning at Shepherd in San Jacinto 
County, is that of a general fruit and floral nursery. 
The demand for nursery stock in East Texas last 
year was five times the supply. Going up the road 
after leaving Cleveland, in Liberty County, if you 
prefer prairie to the timber lands, just go in to your 
right four to six miles and you strike a prairie of the 
very best character for cotton and corn. This prairie 
parallels the road many miles. All the country up 
to the town of Livingston, in Polk County, is desirable 
because of the very rich river bottom land and upland 
magnolia land, all being remarkably productive, and 
near Houston and Galveston, excellent markets for 
the productions. And in a short time Sabine Pass 
will be open, deep water being assured, giving two 
seaports and the railway centre, (Houston) as outlets. 
For farming, horticulture or pomology, the Houston 
East & West Texas R. E, penetrates largely the best and 
most accessible lands in the State. 

Nov/, in speaking or in wriiing, dlrecLing the atten- 
tion to this entire 7,000,000 acres of land, I desire to 
say, and emphatically, that it is a fruit country. I 
do not mean for Leconte and Keiffer pears and straw- 
berries alone, but for all fruit. The portion of the 
territory nearer Houston is not so good for all pur- 
poses as that beyond, but anything planted in it does 
better and yields more than in the prairies, or on the 
coast. The soil does not bake; it holds the moisture 
longer; neither gets so wet or so dry, so hot or cold, as 
in and on unprotected prairie. Trees stand erect, bear 
fruit; frost rarely catches the cup bloom; fruit sets 
well, and free from the earl}^ and late wind shakes of 
May, September and October so frequent in the prai- 
ries. For general fruit and field crops, that pay intelli- 
gence and labor, the largest returns can be had from, the 
crossing of the San Jacinto to the Sabine. For exclu- 
sive market gardening and dairy purposes, the coun- 
try from the San Jacinto river to Houston is pre- 
ferable; reason, nearer market. 

The number of cash crops along this route are 



greater than that of any other section. Cotton and 
sugar being a Southeast Texas crop, cotton and corn 
North Texas, cattle and hay West Texas. In East 
Texas we have as cash crops stock, alfalfa, rice, cotton, 
tobacco, hogs, Irish and sweet potatoes, onions, toma- 
toes, cabbage, peaches, apples, pears, plums, Japan 
persimmons, nectarines and grapes. These can be 
and are made and shipped in car lots at a large profit. 
But one of these crops can be raised with main 
strength and awkwardness, that is cotton. It requires 
no intelligence to raise cotton as a money crop, be- 
cause no man with intelligence tries to do so at less 
than ten cents per pound, at the gin, and gin weights. 

In traveling, watch the country and the soil in the 
cuts in the Railroad, and if you know what you want to 
do, get out where you see soil that suits you, and hunt 
the nearest to it that is in cultivation and see its ca- 
pability; see the product and note the cultivation it 
receives, and then ask the question, what would a few 
brains and experience do looking towards improve- 
ments? With very few exceptions, the traveler will 
find the cultivation of the land the most primitive. 
Yet in spite of the ignorance and neglect, the growth 
of all crops, fruit, etc., is phenomenal. 

Except in a few instances, but little attention is paid 
to raising any other crop than cotton, and a little patch 
of corn and a few garden vegetables for family use, the 
woods furnishing all the meat the average citizen re- 
quires. This is the rule, where in ten years ignorance 
will be an exception. Ten thousand families from the 
old south and west scattered along this section will 
change it. With the country and the conditions, few if 
any, of the citizens are disposed to sell out; they are 
satisfied. Until a short time since no one knew that 
Sumatra or burley tobacco would grow, order and pay 
well. Recent trials in Montgomery, Polk, Cherokee, 
Nacogdoches, and especially Walker County, has made 
a. phenomenal success, and a net profit of $76 per acre 
has been obtained. All this section raises in the creek 
valleys, ribbon sugar cane, and the large yield of syr- 
syrup of a peculiar and desirable flavor makes it a 
paying crop. 

This section is as good for any purpose as any part 
of the South, and better for more different crops than 
any other part of the country. 



12 

By reading the matter in this pamphlet it will he Jownd 
to give all the information that is necessary to induce a 
man to go and look the country over, and that is the only 
way you can get lasting and satisfactory information. 

The road and its copartners, the people on the line, 
intend advertising the country, and the names of par- 
ties living at each depot are attached and will take 
pleasure in giving definite information and showing 
the country to the absolute settler or those who desire 
to bring in and settle immigrants. 

The lands are cheaper than in any other part of the 
State, and an increase in value more certain. 

AN UNEXCELLED COUNTRY -AN 
OASIS. 

The land, the timber and minerals along the line of 
the Houston East & West Texas Railway are unexcelled 
in all the South, West, North or East. It can not be 
described to do it full justice. To see it is the only 
way to determine its real value. Nature has done 
more for it, and man less than even Stanley, Living- 
ston and Baker has for darkest Africa. It is a terri- 
tory larger than the State of Massachusetts and cap- 
able of producing five times as much of the necessaries 
of life. The timber (nineteen commercial varieties) 
is unexcelled. 

The minerals are numerous. Iron, marl, mica, gyp- 
sum, isinglass, chalk, kaolin and lead are known to 
exist; oil wells of the best lubricating oil; brown coal 
or lignite; vitrifying, fire and potters' clays. An aver- 
age agricultural soil, and for fruits, grapes and horti- 
culture unrivalled by any section. 

Statistics show health above the average; close to 
large markets for all the produce; moi'als, the best; 
churches, school houses, post ofiices and railroad de- 
pots convenient; immigration invited and welcomed 
by the people. Then why not come to this. 

A HORTICULTURAL ARCADIA. 

F]'om the Gulf Coast of Texas to the Sabine River. 
From the city of Houston, Texas, to Shreveport, 
Louisiana. 

Fruit, fruit; grapes, grajoeB. 
Vegetables the yenr round. 



1 13 

^ Health, morals, minerals, timber and as productive 
Boil as a bird ever flitted over, or the red deer gam- 
boled upon. 

If you desire to raise fruit, and a variety of fruit, 
come. * 

If you are a truck farmer, come. 

If you want to raise hogs and other improved stock, 
come. 

If you want to manufacture timber, come. , 

If you want to work clays into pottery, tiling, pip- 
ing, vitrifying or fire brick, come. 

Do you want to put up a marl or a cotton seed oil 
mill, come. For a cotton compress and cotton seed 
oil mill and marl mill attached, $50,000 can be better 
invested in Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, than 
any place in the entire south. 

Do you want to make handles,, spokes, felloes, bar- 
rels, kegs, churns, barrel hoops, barrel heads, wagons 
or furniture, come. 

Do you want to make pig iron, come. 

Do you want to work timber into any article, come. 

Are you a scientific, practical farmer of diversified 
crops? There can be, and are being produced in this 
section twenty-two different crops. 

Are you a practical nurseryman ? If so, the supply 
is short of the demand, and this country is especially 
adapted to the business. 

Are you an invalid ? Here is altitude and pure 

life-restoring mineral waters. Here is millions of 

acres of land near a railway that can be bought at 

from $1.50 to $5.00 per acre, and on fair deferred pay- 

, ments. 

V This Arcadia is rapidly settling up, and lands ap- 
;|, predating in value and immigrants are being at- 
^1 tracted, and in a short time lands now offered at $1.50 
per acre will be selling at $10. If you want a farm, 
or a site to manufacture, secure it before December, 
1894, or you cannot buy it at the present price. 

Detailed information can be had from the manage- 
ment of the Houston, East and West Texas and 
Shreveport Railroad, Houston, Texas, or Jno. M. 
Claiborne, Immigration and Development Agent of 
^ he road. Care Agent, Shreveport, Houston or Lufkin. 



14 

STATISTICAL. 

The road penetrates the counties of Harris, Mont 
gomery, Liberty, San Jacinto, Polk, Angelina, Nacog 
doches and Sberby, and is also patronized and drawi 
tonnage and travel from parts of Trinity, Houston 
Tyler, Cherokee, Rusk, Panola, San Augustine, Sabin* 
and others. The farm statistics for 1892 (the lates 
obtainable) will give a home-seeker some idea of th< 
production of the area. 

Harris County. — Acres in cultivation, 37,205 
value of crops, 1892, $842,839. The county has al8( 
a large revenue from her saw mills, dairy products 
etc. Since the above report was made, Harris count] 
has improved more than any other county in th< 
State; in all probability there is now more than 60, 
000 acres in cultivation and a revenue of more thaii 
two million obtained from it. Harris county, havinj. 
an area of 1,800 square miles (just double the size o; 
an ordinary county), is capable of sustaining a verji 
large population, and today is among the most popu 
lous in the State, and her chief city, Houston, is toda^) 
the largest, most prosperous and progressive in tb 
State, or the South. 

Montgomery County. — Acres in cultivation 
35,200: value of crop, 1892, $534,650; has an area o 
1,054 square miles. It has many saw mills, and tbi 
revenue from lumber is large. That part of the coun 
ty nearest Houston, and on the H., E. & W. T. R. R; 
is settling up rapidly, the land is of the very best fo; 
vegetables, and Houston furnishes a fine market. Th* 
country along the railroad is beautiful, and in tim( 
country homes and magnificent parks will adori 
every foot of it. There are some beautiful natura 
lakes near the road in this county. 

Liberty County.— Acres in cultivation, 1892 
9,375. Value of products, $142,760. Area of terri 
tory, 1,172 square miles. This is an open prairi* 
County. From stock she gets an immense revenue 
She also has timber that yields a revenue. It is ai 
average County for agriculture, and in a few yean 
will be a solid pear, grape and berry orchard. It hai 
three railways running through it, and is convenien 
to market. The in vestment of money, and the funera 
of some of her citizens will pay largely; both tb 



15 

funerals and investments are as certain to follow, as 

for water to seek a level. There is a beautiful open- 

I ing for capital near Cleveland, on the H. E. & W. T, 

R. R., and foresight will fill the opening soon. 

San Jacinto County. — Acres in cultivation, 

: 1892, 19,560; value of products, $334,670. It covers 

an area of only 637 square miles. The revenue from 

"saw mills is great, as is also the revenue from railway 

: ties and timber for export. In this county begins the 

I undulating lands so famous in ail Texas for fruit, 

•grapes and berries. Not a great amount of attention 

has been given to the fruits generally, but all that 

has been intelligently tried, has proven satisfactory. 

San Jacinto is a very picturesque county, and abounds 

in stately magnolia groves, and on the streams pecan, . 

hickory, oak, and other valuable hard woods are found, 

- San Jacinto is a good county to find a splendid home 

and a bright future. 

Polk County. — Acres in cultivation, 22,410; 
yalue of products, 1892. $458,142; area, 1109 square 
miles. The revenue from the saw mills and hard 
wood timbers is greater than that of any other county 
on the line of road. Before the war Polk county was 
'known as one of the best farming counties in the 
State. Then the farms were along the Trinity 
River; but with the freedom and scattering of the ne- 
groes, and the unreliable nature of the white labor,. 
[■ faims are not well handled. Polk County is just now 
giving attention to fruit and garden products, and ex- 
periments show that for these purposes she excels. 
Polk County has been cursed by extensive land own- 
ers who are non-residents, who render their land at 
25 per cent on what they ask for it, and it has re- 
tarded immigration; but good and cheap lands can be 
bought in the county, and there is no better location 
in Texas. 

Angelina County. — Acres in cultivation 1892, 
29,654; value of product, 1892, $334,763; area 878 
square miles. She has a large revenue from her saw 
mills and timber. She cuts over 800,000 feet daily, 
besides her railroad ties and oak and walnut shipped 
' Germany (as do all the counties along the road). 

Angelina has the advantage, as does Polk and 
Liberty, of having two railway lines: This county, 
besides being an excellent agricultural County, is a 



16 

most excellent fruit County, and for a large variety of 
fruit. Angelina can furnish 1000 families excellent 
homes and an assurance of prosperity. 

Nacogdoches County — Acres in cultivation in ^ 
1892, 61,000; value of products, 1892, $802,693; area, 
974 square miles. 

This is the home for nurserymen; fruit, vine and 
berry growers. All that is necessary for this business 
is here, right at the hand of capital, intelligence and 
industry. Nacogdoches is among, if not the most 
beautiful, counties in Texas, and has some of the best 
of lands. Her timber is very valuable, and so also 
are her minerals. Here can be had excellent homes 
for 1,500 or 2,000 families, and at low figures, but 
they must be had soon. The people are wide-awake, 
^nd know that they have a good thing. . They, wit^h 
all other people along the road, are inviting immigra- 
tion. 

Shelby County. — Acres in cultivation, 47,942; 
value of productions, 1892, $692,978; area of territory, 
802 square miles. Shelby, like all the other counties 
along the line, gets large revenue from her timber, but 
it is noticed that she gets a larger revenue from agri- 
culture per acre than any county along the line. The 
naked fact is, that Shelby County is one of the very 
best all around and for every purpose county in the 
State, and is entitled to the appellation "Free State of 
Teneha." Mossbacks have been kicked to death with 
burros. 

Trinity County. — This county, which gives the 
H. E. & W. T. R. R. a good large freight, is much the 
same as that of Polk and Angelina. 

Tyler County, and also San Augustine, iii 
similar to those of Shelby and Nacogdoches, which they 
join; while Cherokee, Houston, Panola and Rusk are 
like Nacogdoches, and are mineral, fruit, berry, tim- 
ber, hog and generally all round agricultural coun- 
ties, and have large bodies of land for sale to actual 
settlers, and some open land to rent, and a great deal 
that the timber has been taken oft of, at low prices 
and on good terms. 



17 



RECAPITULATION. 

Total area of territory feeding the railway, with 
the acreage in cultivation and the value in 1892: 



COUNTIES 


Sq' re miles 
territory 


Acres 
cultivated 


Values of 
Products 




1,800 

1,054 

1,172 

647 

1,109 

878 

974 

802 

2,100 


32.205 
35.200 
9,375 
22,560 
22,410 
29,654 
61,000 
47,942 

95,000 


$842,839 


Montgomery 


534,650 
142,760 
334.670 




Polk 


468,142 


Angelina 

Jfacogdoches 

Shelby 

Trinity. Houston, Tyler, Chero-) 
kee, Rusk, Panola, San Aug- }- 
nstine.. ) 


334,763 
802.693 
692 978 

1,236,671 






855,346 


$.5,430,166 




Sq're mil^s 
10,556 


Acres 


T/^tJ^l 


6,755,840 





The various counties have, combined, ninety-two 
'saw mills, cutting an average of 30,000 feet^each for 
200 days in the year, over 600,000,Q00 feet, making a 
large revenue, besides timber for export. Taking a 
broad view of the conditions and the possibilities, the 
probabilities are that in ten years it will be the most 
populous as well as the most prosperous part of the 
State. Tivo sea ports are virtually wdthin from one hour 
to nine hours of any point on the Houston East and 
West Texas Railroad. A short line will put Sabine 
Pass within six hours of any point on it. Take all 
the surroundings, bearings, immutable rock-ribbed 
facts, and all go to show that geographically this 
country has all the advantages, as is attested by the 
figures and statements preceding. Now, then, to 
verify the statements. Go on the land into the terri- 
tory, take a week or a month and investigate, and 
jou will make no mistake. There are none so blind 
as those who will not see. When the Creator deliv- 
ered Israel from Egypt this country was not handy; 
if it had been, Jerusalem would have been in the cen- 
ter of it. It is as far ahead of Judea as a white man 
ahead of a negro before the war. Come and see it. 



18 
PLAIIS* STATEMENTS 

The object to be attained in presenting the preced 
ing short description of the lands, capabilities and 
possibilities along the line of the Houston East and 
West Texas Railway, is to induce men to settle upon 
its line. 

The description given is not fully complete; but is 
designed to cause an investigation as to the truths set 
out in the unsupported assertions made. To that endj 
the Rail Road management, will at any time give the 
enquirers the names of citizens along the route that 
will furnish testimony about the country, or any 
special part of it, a few names are attached. 

Numerous land owners have agreed to sell a part o4 
their lands at low prices, and long terms of payment 
at low rates of interest, to the actual settler. 

The names of such men will be given, upon appli-([ 
cation to the Development and Immigration Depart- 
ment of the Road at the city of Houstoix, or in care of 
the Rail Road agent, Shreveport, Louisiana. By do- 
ing this the investor or home-seeker is put into corres-| 
pondence with the owner, or legal ag*nt of the owner 
of lands, or mineral for sale along the line of road. 

The Road, its owners, nor its agents, have any land 
for sale and are forbidden to act as a^ent or to receive! 
compensation for any aid given in making sales, or 
the establishment of industries along the line of road. 
The object of the Road, to put it plainly, is to put set- 
tlers and industries along the Road, simply and sole- 
ly to create more local traffic, freight and passengers; 
the lands are now cheap, the prices agreed upon will 
be maintained until January next, after which dat© 
we can not hold them to the present low offerings, aa 
the demand will cause an increase in the price, and 
justifiably. The value of these lands, and for what 
purposes, has been set out in the preceeding report to 
the President of the Railway, and in comparison to 
the price that is asked is less than a tenth of their val- 
ue, present or prospective. Plainly we state that if a 
man is well and comfortably located and is making 
a comfortable living with schools, health and churches 
near him he should not move to Texas, or elsewhere, un- 
less he has a large family, that must have room, and 
an opportunity to expand. I 



19 

A shiftless, lazy and ignorant man can do as well or 
better in any other State than he can in Texas. 

An industrious and intelligent, moral man can do 
better in Texas than in any other State. 

As before stated and emphasized by repetition, any 
man who can make a living in any of the older South- 
ern States, can make money to loan in East Texas. 
The kind and character of people invited or wanted 
along the read are, viz.: 

First — Men who understand and will practice diver- 
sitied farming. Men who have enough means to settle 
themselves comfortably and pay expenses for the first 
year. Men of this character are desirable and are as- 
sured of the fact that they can be very successful. 

Second — Men to manufacture the raw material along 
the road into finished articles for domestic use. 

This raw material is timber; pine, cypress and hard 
woods; 70,000,000,000 standing feet; saw mills, furni- 
ture manufactories, barrel, keg, handle, spoke, felloe 
and wagon makers, for men of this kind there is a 
splendid opening. 

The grinding of marl is an industry with money in 
it (See reference to marl in the report to the president 
of the road). 

The manufacture of the unrivaled potter, fire, tile, 
kaolin and vitrifying clays into finished articles, as 
also that of glass sand, and ochre, offers a field for 
capital and intelligence not to be found elsewhere on 
the American continent. There are several points on 
the road where cotton compresses and cotton seed oil 
mills would pay handsomely on the investment. 
There are at this time two points on the line of road 
where small private or National banks would prove 
remunerative, viz: LufKin and Livingston. 

For men who understand the nursery business 
there is no better, broader or wider field open at any 
Iplace than along the line of this road; at least three 
i; large nurseries could make good money; the market 
I for nursery stock is largely in excess of the production 
' SLud at good figures. 

There is a large demand for home bred acclimated 
Jersey cattle and registered hogs and thoroughbred fowls 
in Texas, Louisiana and Mexico. East Texas seems to 
be the natural breeding grounds for these productions; 
•be demand is large and supply small, and there ia 



20 

good interest on money invested and intelligent labor 
performed in the businesSo 

Honesty, intelligence and morality, is as essentially 
necessary to success in Texas, as in any other state, 
and none other than men of this character are wanted, 
nor will they be welcomed. Anarchist, political or re- 1 
ligious agitators, are most respectfully advised that! 
for such the health of Texas is not guaranteed. 

It is as good a poor man's country as there is in the 
world ; provided the man has integrity, industry, 
morals and reasonable intelligence. Texas is no place 
for idiots or men who think they know it all ; neither 
of them can do even fairly well in East Texas. 

Again, there is a class of people who think Texas is 
filled with desperate characters ; and that it is not 
safe to attempt to live in the state. Men of this kind 
are not wanted in East Texas ; they lack intelligence 
and do not read the current newspapers. The carry- 
ing of a gun or other deadly weapon by any one in 
Texas is a badge of cowardice, and there are very few 
who desire to wear the badge. 

What the Railways, aided by the People 
along the Line, are now Attempting. 

They have an experienced man in the older south- 
ern states ; a native of the state, who is fully conver- 
sant with the country and its capacities. 

This gentleman is there to tell the people about East' 
Texas, to give all information, and to assist those who 
are seeking homes and investments, to look over its 
line of road at as little cost to them as possible. 

Later. — After crops are gathered, he will have differ- 
ent places from which to start to Texas, and round 
trip 30 days rates will be obtained — to come and spy 
out the country — and then to make low rates of freight 
and transportation for persons and effects when those 
who will move, desire to do so. 

This agent will lecture on East Texas whenever op- 
portunity may present itself, and will answer all ques- 
tions regarding the section truthfully and ask a visit! 
to verify any and all statements he may make. i 

Right here, it is appropriate to say that land nor| 



21 

linerala or mineral springs, will be sold to any party 
rho does not agree to utilize them. In a word, the 
resent owners prefer holding their property themselves 
ather than sell to speculators. Therefore, the pur- 
haser must use the property purchased. Only bona 
'de citizens are wanted. 

Texas can not be cursed by non-resident speculative 
and owners; they are cumberers of earth. 

There is upon and near the line of the H. E. & W. 
\ Railway large bodies of land, that the owners (mill 
aen) will sell at a nominal price to be paid for in labor, 
utting timber off of it, that is reserved. 

This land is the very best quality for fruit, vines, 
vegetables, and will make cotton, corn, sugar cane, to- 
)acco, alfalfa and all vegetables equal to any bottom 
and in the old States. 

Men familiar with prairie land do not like to go into 
b timbered country, but not so with the man from the 
jouth, or the man who pays three to eight dollars an- 
lually for fertilizers in order to gather 25 to 35 bushels 
/f corn, when three dollars per acre will put this land 
n cultivation and make 35 to 50 bushels of corn per 
icre during ordinary life. 

Begin a correspondence with some of the parties 
nentioned, or the Railway management, so that each 
nay know just what point they intend to visit when 
itarting on the trip to Texas. In this way, time and 
noney is saved. 

I desire to emphasize this fact. The timber land of 
Sast Texas is unlike that of any other in the older 
itates; it is very fertile, and has a sub-soil. Crops 

ised on the same land for the past half a century 

test to this fact. 

The land is cheaper to clear off per acre, than the 

st of Guano or Phosphates in the old states per acre 

mnually, and crops on the native soil in East Texas 

learly double those with Guano raised in the older 

jtates. 

The facts and evidence approve, and there is no evi- 
ce to condemn Texas as the grandest state in land, 
rals and health on this continent. Come and see 
person. 



For nearly five y^rs I traveled over the states oi 
Georgia and Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas, 
associated with many of their people in the camp and 
in the field of a soldier, commanded some men of each 
state, and am attached to them, and my effort to get 
them to Texas and East Texas, is to benefit them and 
their children. 

The President and owner of the Road is a native of 
Alabama, and is not unknown to the reading publicj 
Very respectfully, 

Jno. M. Claiborne, 
Chief Development Department, Houston, East <fej 

West Texas Railway. 



The Following Well-Known Leading Men will 
Answer Every Inquiry Made. 

R. H. McClanahan, T. L. Ross and G. I. Turnley,] 
Cold Springs, San Jacinto County. 

E. B. Smith, Shepherd, San Jacinto County. 

R. C, Miller, Napier, San Jacinto County. 

Judge James E. Hill, Judge T. S. Meece, Mr. J. M. 
Drew, Livingston, Polk County. 

C. Bender, Holshousen, Polk County. 

Leo Bergman, S. B, Tackaberry, Moscow, Polk Co. 

R. M. Leggett, Jas. W Leggett, J. R. Freeman, Leg- 
gett, Polk County. 

Allen & Williams and Dr. J. R. George, Corrigan, 
Polk .County, W. G. Bering, Bering's Mill, Polk Co., 
T, L. Hackney, Valda, Polk County. 



Judge E. J. Mantooth, Mr. W. H. Bonner and Mr. 
A. J. Smith, Lufkin, Angelina County. 

Col. S. J. Treadwell, Burke, Angelina County. 

Col. S. C. Olive, Clawson, Angelina County. 

Mr. John Schmidt, Col. Benj. A. Wettermark, CoL 
Thomas Jennings, Capt. Geo. H. Davidson, Mr. J. S. 
Doughtie, Major W. P. Mims, Judge E. B. Lewis, and 
Dr. R. C. Shindler, Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County. 

Mr. John Young, Garrison, Nacogdoches County.. 

Mr. G. N. Weaver, Capt. Smith Garrison and Dr. 
J. B. Bussy, Timpson, Shelby County. 

Col. Ed. R. Hicks, CoL F. L. Johnson and Hooker 
fSi Wall, Tenaha, Shelby County. 

Davis & Garrison, Wilson & Runnels and Dr. J. W. 
Rogers, Center, Shelby County 

Gen. Sam H. Dixson, Pauli, Montgomery County^ 

Hon. Jno. B. Long, Rusk, Cherokee County. 

Col. T. L. Farris, Alto, Cherokee County. 

Mr. Henry E. Brewer, Lynflat, Nacogdoches County. 

Cameron, Swilley & Moore, Liberty, Texas. 

Jno. M. Claiborne, Chief of Development and Im- 
migration, Shrevejbrti^|., Lufkin or Houston, Texas 
care of R. R. agent. ^1 ^ 



24 

LAND TITLES. 

Attention has been directed to the report, that man) 
uninformed men suspect land titles in Texas. 

It is presumed that no reading man fears titles t(! 
realty in Texas. 

There has not been five cases of the kind litigated ir 
the ten counties referred to, in ten years. 

With each deed a certified abstract of title is giver 
by the owner and sworn to as face of the records. 



Houston. East iIest Texas 
railroad. 



E. S. JEMISON President 

M. G. HOWE Gen'I Managex 

THOMAS CRONIN Superintendent 

N. S. MELDRUM Sec> and Treasure) 

H. W. DOWNEY Gen'l Frt. and Pass. Agt 

JNO. M. CLAIBORNE 

Development and Immigration Agen? 



t^ 



4§^ 



p 



.... PRINCIPAL . . . 

^ -^J! Towns' AN eT 

^Ti* COUNTIES 

SITUATED ON THE LINE OF THE 



IS 



Houston East & West Texas Railway. 



ii Piston, Harris County. — The cliief city of 'IV'xa.s. 
(S-e her weekly bank clearaiici's.) 

P uli, Dickson, or Lake Park, Montgomery County. 

^ veland, Liberty Co. — Railway crossinir- 

M ' pherd, San Jacinto County. 

Livingston, Moscow and Corrigan, Polk Co. — The 
atter is a railway crossing. 

Liifkin, Angelina County. — Junction of t4io Cotton 
Belt Railway, Southeastern branch. 

I^acogdoches, Appleby and Garrison, Nacogdoches 
I County, 

■frimpson, Teneha and Logansport, Shelby ("ounty. 

Ifhreveport and Keechi, Louisiana. 

45 Saw Mills immediately on the line of the road, 
and other depots. 

SEE THE COUNTRY 



and satisfy yourself -that it ..iB . as pictured in 
this "report." 



• 




TliE BEST FIELD IN THE 
UNITED STATES FOR MAN' 
FACTURERS OF TIMBER If 
LUMBER AND FINISHED 
ARTICLES. 



NINETEEN 
DIFFERENT 
COMMERCIAL 
HARD WOODS. 






ITS 



I^incpals 



1 



As far as discovered, are: Iuon, Marl, Och: 

Mica, Kaolin, Gypsum and Lignite Coal. 

It has Vitrifying Fire Tile and Potter's Cl.4 
and Glass Sand. 

And is the natural home of many Fruits, Sug; 
Cotton, Rice and all the garden truck and flora. 



•N. B.— Put this away for a reference when you coi 
out to Texas this fall to look ud a home. 



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